The Reactivist
React proactively, make decisions quickly, and solve problems efficiently.
When someone tells me that tennis is a thinking sport, I always tell them they're wrong. Tennis is an intuitive sport, not a reflective one. If you stop to think, you miss. Anyone who plays will tell you the same. Picture this: a ball comes at you at 30-45 mph across a court that's just over 20 metres long. Less than a second after it bounces, it's on you. And in that instant, you already need to know what you're going to do with it, while running to where your opponent sent it. Exactly: intuition.
But intuition is the product of strategy, experience, and learning built up over years. That's why a player who takes to the court three times a week for ten years will make better decisions than one who plays twice a week in fits and starts, even if they started at the same level.
The same is true in business. We're constantly receiving "balls" we need to return well, meaning shots that land where we intend and let us win the point. It might be a decision about the product we sell, resolving an internal problem, making a tactical call, or preparing for what's ahead. In every case, knowing what game we want to play (planning) and how we respond to what happens (deciding) is what wins us "matches" day to day, and "championships" over the long run.
The reactivist is not the opposite of the proactivist. They're an indispensable alter ego. Because in business, as in tennis, you can't control every ball that comes your way. But you can decide how you arrive at each one: feet set and ready, or scrambling with no idea where you're going.
The best tennis players don't improvise blindly. They prepare their improvisation: they know what game they want to play, they've drilled the same situation thousands of times, and when the moment arrives, body and mind respond on their own. The best business leaders do exactly the same.
© Oriol López Villena 2026